Chelsea 1-3 Brighton: Report, result and goals as red card again proves Blues’ undoing

It was a case of deja vu for Chelsea and Enzo Maresca as they once again crumbled to defeat following a red card, this time surrendering a first-half lead in a 3-1 home loss to Brighton and Hove Albion.

The Blues had paid the price for Robert Sanchez’s early dismissal at a sodden Old Trafford last week in losing 2-1 to Manchester United.

This time, Chelsea at least had a lead to protect when Trevor Chalobah was sent off for a foul on Diego Gomez in the 53rd minute, Enzo Fernandez having given them a 24th-minute lead.

But Chelsea utterly failed to rise to the challenge of doing so, Danny Welbeck restoring parity in the 72nd minute before Maxim De Cuyper sent the travelling fans into delirium 20 minutes later.

Welbeck doubled his tally in the 10th minute of stoppage time as Brighton moved into the top half and level on points with seventh-placed Chelsea, whose hopes of seriously challenging for the title already look fanciful.

Chelsea v Brighton

Bert Verbruggen was busy in the opening minutes, keeping out free-kicks from Enzo and Reece James, before Jan Paul van Hecke saved what looked to be a certain goal after Joao Pedro unselfishly played in Estevao.

But Chelsea took a deserved lead in the 24th minute when Enzo nodded home from close range from James’ deflected right-wing cross.

Chelsea failed to build on their lead, and there was a turning point in the contest eight minutes into the second half when Chalobah saw red for bringing down Gomez on the edge of the area with the Paraguayan through on goal.

Referee Simon Hooper initially waved away the claims of the Brighton players, but a trip to the VAR pitchside monitor saw him reverse his decision and dismiss Chalobah, though Gomez could do nothing with the subsequent free-kick.

Yankuba Minteh went close as Brighton continued in the ascendancy, with Brighton further frustrated when Welbeck volleyed narrowly wide of the left-hand post in the 72nd minute after Van Hecke’s blocked shot had fallen into his path.

Welbeck, though, atoned for his profligacy five minutes later when Minteh got down the left and whipped an inch-perfect cross into the box for the former England striker to head home from point-blank range.

Brighton continued to pile on the pressure and eventually it told, Yasin Ayari’s superb delivery to the far post headed back across goal by Mats Wieffer for De Cuyper to nod in and complete the turnaround.

That goal came in the second of 11 additional minutes, and Chelsea never threatened to take advantage of the ample time to respond, with Welbeck adding gloss to the scoreline when he lifted in his second after the Brighton press harried Chelsea into losing possession to cap another difficult day for Maresca.